Welcome to the Wishbone!
by Otakurec.37
Summary: Kagome is the new kid in Musashi high school for a new year, and new experiences; cheerleading, football, and love? InuKag, MirSan and other pairings. M just in case.
1. New Home, New Friends

Well here's the first chapter of an Inuyasha football story. American football, not soccer. I actually wanted to upload my FMP story first, casue I've been working on it longer, but it's soooo long it's taking a long time to type. So here it is. I'm keeping it M just in case I feel like getting colorful later on, and maybe a bit... raunchy? Okay, I don't own Inuyasha or anything like that...

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Chapter 1: New Home, New Friend

"AHH! Man it feels good to get out of there!" Kagome exclaimed as she stepped out of the passenger seat stretching her arms and back. She took a look at the house before her. Her mother had gotten a new and better job and was asked to move. Kagome knew it was for the better and had no problems with it, in fact, she was a bit excited. This new house was definitely big enough to hold her family of four; for her, her mom, her younger brother Souta, and her grandpa.

And speak of the devils, at that moment her grandfather pulled up in their other car with Souta. Grandpa got out slowly, careful to avoid any traffic. Souta did slowly as well, but for a different reason. He was mostly against going away, he liked where they lived, not for any real reason though. Kagome simply felt he was going through a rebellious phase, she knows she did when she was sixteen too; it wasn't that long ago, but long enough.

"So this is it huh?" he said very unamused.

"Yep!" Kagome said back very cheerfully.

"Hmph!" was his simple retort.

"Hey, I think it looks nice Souta!"

"I liked our old house better" still agitated.

"Souta!" Their mother yelled, "Could you help me with this big box?"

"Sure…" He trudged away to help, leaving Kagome to stare at the house once more with a relieved smile on her face. She stood there thinking about her "new life" that lay ahead of her.

"Kagome!" She snapped her head around and down toward her grandfather. "Stop lolly-gagging, and help us with the luggage" he said carrying a small duffel bag of his things.

"Oh, sorry Gramps." She started helping her family unloading the two cars with their clothes and shelves, etc. It took about an hour to unload everything into their right room, though still in boxes. Kagome looked around her semi-empty room with an intriguing smile on her face. "Hey Mom…" she yelled down towards the kitchen.

"Yes dear?"

"When are the movers getting here with our furniture?"

"They should be here in about an hour."

"Thanks!" She gave out a relieved sigh that she had some time to relax. She came down the stairs and as soon as she passed by the front door the bell rang. She topped and looked at it. "Wow, weird." She opened it to see a girl her age with long black hair in a ponytail with a smile on her face.

"Hi!" she said, "I'm Sango Taijiya, I live across the street and I brought something for you guys." She held out a tray of cookies in saran wrap.

And at that moment Kagome's grandfather walked past Kagome while behind her "Thank you dear, but I don't eat sweets" he said not even making eye contact before he went into the other room. Sango's face went from chipper to somber in no time flat.

Kagome quickly put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, the rest of us will eat them. Especially my brother, he's at the age where he eats everything put in front of him."

This brought a smile and a giggle to her face. "I see, I have a little brother too. Hey, how old are you?"

"Oh, me? I'm 18"

"Oh my God, me too! Which school are you going to?"

"Umm, I just transferred to Musashi high."

"That's where I go!" She took a long realizing breath in. "You have to join the cheerleading team with me!"

"I do?"

"Yeah, it's so much fun and the games are so exciting."

"Games?"

"Yeah, the football games. Come on, I'll show you!" She began to tug her arm to drag her out of the house.

"Wait, wait a second!!"

"What, you don't want to?"

"That's not it, but I have to do something first." She took the tray from Sango and rushed into the kitchen towards her mother.

"Oh Kagome dear, where did you get those?"

"They're from the person who rang the door bell, she's our neighbor and goes to my school, she wants to show me something…"

"Oh that's wonderful Kagome! You already have a new friend. Go! Go!" She started pushing her daughter out of the kitchen.

"But… but what about the movers?"

"Oh don't you worry about that" she said giving her one last push out of the kitchen as Souta walked through.

"How come Kagome gets to leave, and I have to stay?"

"Because she's been helping us with more enthusiasm, and helping _more_. You've been making this transition harder with your negativity, so deal with it." Souta was speechless.

Kagome and Sango were busy talking about moving to this new school. "So" Sango started, "do you know much about our school?"

"Well I heard they were a major contender last year for… American football was it?"

"Yep! All the way to the finals. But unfortunately the refs seemed to hate us, and a few players got injured. But this year we're going all the way."

"Why do you seem so confident?"

"Trust me, after you see the team, you'll think so too" she said with a smile.

"What?!"

"Yep, they're having practice today, and we're going to go watch them."

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No football in this chapter, but the next is filled with it. And I hope you know positions and such, if not just go to Wikipedia and look at what they have. Please review, it ensures faster updates.


	2. The Team

Okay next chapter is up! I hope you know about positions, cause otherwise you'll probably be confused. Yes, we finally meet Inuyasha.

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Chapter 2: The Team 

The two girls walked towards the school and back near the practice fields. Trust me Kagome; you're going to love cheerleading"

"But I never even said I would join yet."

"Sango!"

The glanced behind them to see to see a red-headed girl running up to them.

"Ayame!" Sango yelled back. When she finally reached the two, she was quite winded. "Oh right, Kagome, this is Ayame she's on the cheerleading team with too. Ayame, this is Kagome, she just moved here, she's joining the cheerleading team."

"That's awesome!"

"Wait, I never said…"

"Hey, are you two going to watch the practice too?" she interrupted.

"Yeah" Sango answered quickly. "Oh yeah Kagome, first you should know about some recent team history."

"Well" she started, "I know a little bit about the Musashi Hanyous. Let's see… they wear blue and yellow… and they're ranked second nationally."

"Well that does count, I guess" Ayame said.

"Yeah" Sango agreed. "We went all the way to the national championship last year. But we were cheated. The refs would penalize us for the slightest things and the other team even purposely injured players without a single penalty. And we still only lost by 1 point."

"Wow! That's amazing!" Kagome exclaimed.

They finally reached the very small hill over-looking the fields, seeing the team practice in full pads separated into groups by their position. Kagome was really amazed at how fast and strong they looked running through their drills.

"Alright, well let's run through the important players on the team then" Sango said, "Let's start with the Quarterback…"

"Big surprise you started there Sango" Ayame said with a mischievous smile nudging her with her elbow.

"S… shut up!" she retorted turning a bit red. "That's Miroku Houshi, #5, a 3rd year." Kagome saw a young man tossing a football around with another and also stretching his shoulder. "He basically leads the offense, he's pretty well known for his "magic arm"."

"He's also well known for being a major pervert, so be careful Kagome."

"Anyways, next is the Center, 3rd year, #99 Jinenji Ooinaru." Kagome looked towards the un-missable player whose size was unbelievable. "Last year he made all-national as Center and a Defensive Tackle, he's really strong, but he's super-nice."

"Yeah, it's too bad God didn't grace him with better looks though." Ayame said a bit sorry for him.

"Yeah, he deserves someone very special. Now let's move to…"

"KOUGA!" Ayame shouted. "My Kouga".

Sango simply rolled her eyes. "Fine, go ahead." She leaned towards Kagome and whispered, "She's had a hopeless crush on him for years."

"Ooooooh", Kagome said understanding.

"Well Kouga Ookami, #85, is a 3rd year and has been starting Wide Receiver since he came here. He's also the kicker. He's said to have the best pair of legs in the region. He runs a 40 meter dash in 4.44 seconds and did you know the average American professional receiver runs it in about the same time. Oh! And…"

"Okay! Enough about Kouga!" Sango yelled. Ayame made an annoyed huff as Kagome looked down at said receiver and her eyes widened a bit at his speed, seeing it was no exaggeration.

"How Hachi Rakuen, #33, a 2nd year, the Fullback. He's a good friend of Miroku's and isn't very fast, but uses his uh… thickness to bust through the line for short gains."

Kagome glanced at the thick player who really didn't have much speed, but seemed to run very solidly.

"Next would be Ginta and Hakkaku…"

"Both of them?" Ayame said confused.

"They play the same position."

"I guess."

"They're 2nd years. Ginta #22 and Hakkaku #34 are the Half-Backs."

"Wait…" Kagome interrupted, "I know I don't know much about football, but isn't there supposed to be just 1 starting Half-Back?"

"While that's usually the case, we run a different offense that uses 2; it's called the Wishbone Option. On certain running plays Miroku can either hand it off to Hachi who runs straight up the middle, pitch it to either Ginta or Hakkaku while the other blocks or runs a fake trail, or he can keep it and run the ball himself. Whichever he sees is the best to use against the defense as its reacting, that's why it's called an option."

"Oh, I see." She looked down towards the two who were in a heated argument with each other about the particular play called and Kagome gave a small giggle seeing this.

"I guess we should move to Defense, and since I already mentioned Jinenji, we can move on to the next big person on the line, Defensive End, #92 Sesshomaru. Now this is kind of hard to explain, but last year he didn't really meet academic requirements and didn't get into college. But Tokyo U. is scouting him for their team, so they struck a deal where he can stay in school and play until he gets his grades up.

"Wow" Kagome said looking at the tall player with long silver hair sticking out the back of his helmet, "He must be really good then."

"Yep" Ayame said, but because of this little dilemma he was stripped of his title of captain."

"Oh my."

"Can I keep going?" Sango asked.

"Yeah, yeah" Ayame said.

"Okay, now #20 over there is my little brother Kohaku, and he's also the only 1st year who's starting on the team. He's a Strong Safety. He's young but still has a lot of skill. Next is Shippo Kitsune, #24, a 2nd year Corner Back. He's pretty short, but fast, and can jump really high.

"He's also kinda sneaky; a lot of receivers last year said they couldn't see him at all before he suddenly picked off an interception." Ayame added. Kagome looked at the two shorter Defensive Backs who were going over coverage audibles.

"And I guess that brings us to Inuyasha Taisho…"

"Ugggh…" Ayame shrugged.

"Inuyasha?" said a bit confused.

"Yeah, he's #51, the defensive captain, a 3rd year Middle Linebacker. He leads the defense. He and Kouga really don't like each other. He's also Sesshomaru's little brother."

"Really?!"

"Uh huh. How happy do you think Sesshomaru is that suddenly his little brother became captain instead of him…"

Kagome looked down at the player not even 50 feet from them as he suddenly took off his helmet as the drill ended and they rested. Kagome could see his golden eyes and sharp facial features as he shook some sweat off his long silver hair. She immediately felt a hard thump in her chest.

Across the field Hakkaku saw the girls and walked towards Miroku. "Hey Miroku, isn't that Sango up there?"

"Sango!" he exclaimed, too distracted to notice that when he turned his head to look her way, he launched a bomb towards the three spectators.

Hakkaku yelled to them, "Heads up!"

The girls were confused while Inuyasha noticed the ball heading towards a girl with long black hair. He instantly ran up the inclined ground towards them and jumped the last bit scaring the girls, but catching the ball with one hand before it could make a hard collision with Kagome's head. He stood up and launched the ball back to Miroku, "Watch where you're throwing it next time you moron!" He turned back to the girls and caught the eyes of a new face.

"Thanks Inuyasha!" Sango and Ayame said in unison. Kagome simply stood there a bit entranced.

Inuyasah was the same for a bit until he quickly shook his head. "Be a little more careful next time" was all he said before heading back down.

While on his way he heard Miroku yell at him "Hey Inuyasha quit flirting with the girls that's my bit!" with a chuckle.

"Shut up Houshi!" he retorted strapping his helmet back on.

And back with the girls Sango shook Kagome a bit. "Uh wow, I didn't even see that."

"Yeah we could tell, luckily Inuyasha's the 2nd fastest guy on the team or you'd be nursing a lump right now." Sango said a bit relieved.

Kagome simply stared at Inuyasha who was busy with another drill. "Yeah…… lucky me."

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The next chapter or 2 will take a while. And if you guys want, I want to know your opinion why I picked the numbers I did for the players. (Kujo its unfair for you to guess) I just want to know your opinions why. 


	3. 1st Day

Okay, this one took me a while, and so I hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 3: The First Day 

The warning bell hand rung as all the teens hurried a bit faster to their classes in their uniforms. Kagome stared down at the small piece of paper with the number of her classroom on it. She looked around until she finally found room 3-2 and peered inside to already see Sango talking comfortably with Ayame. Suddenly a girl with very long, black hair pushed passed her and towards the back of the class not even acknowledging her. She sighed a bit in relief as she thought of being in the same class as _someone_ she knew, and walked through the doorway. "Hi guys" she said as she approached the two.

"Oh Kagome, we're in the same class together, that's awesome" Sango replied.

"Yeah, now we can talk more about practice and stuff" Ayame added.

"You know guys, I never…"

"Look!" Ayame interrupted (again), "Its Kouga! The fates must be working in my favor to drive us together!" She said, half-dreaming.

"Yeah, that must be it." Sango said dryly.

And it would just so happen that Kouga walked by the three and Ayame couldn't help but talk to him. "Hi Kouga! We have the same class again this year!"

"Yeah, so I see Ayame" he said obviously not caring, that is until he noticed someone else. "Well hello there" he said turning to Kagome, "And who might you be?"

"Umm I'm Kagome" she answered a bit nervously.

"Well Kagome you're pretty cute" he said eyeing her up and down "How about you and me go out some time?"

"Wh… what?! I…" Suddenly her attention was diverted from the boy in front of her to another as the rest of the class went silent… almost. Three chatting young men walked in. The first was short with a bit of girth, Kagome remembered this boy as Hachi. The next was taller and slim with a suave look about him; this was the same boy who almost pelted her inadvertently the other day, Miroku. And last but definitely not least, was a very tall boy, broad at the shoulders with long silver hair and eyes beholding a golden shimmer.

Kouga became confused by the silent stares and followed them to Inuyasha. "Damn it!" Kouga cried, "Now I have to spend _classes _with you too? Well that's just great!"

Inuyasha walked up to him with a scowl. "Oh yeah and I'm just ecstatic!" he retorted with a glare. Suddenly he noticed who Kouga was next to, "Hey its you…" he said pointing at the new girl.

"Y…yeah…" she squeaked out with another thump in her chest.

"Hey, back off mutt! I saw her first!"

"No you didn't! I…"

"Alright students settle down" the teacher said walking into class. "Will the new student please come up to front, and the rest be seated." Kagome came out of her own world for a moment to walk up to the front. She looked down at the short, pointy-nosed man. "I'm Mr. Jaken; please introduce yourself to the class."

"Oh right." She turned to the class. "My name is Kagome Higurashi, it's nice to meet you" she said bowing. As she brought her head up she glanced at Kouga who winked at her. She actually cringed a bit as she shifted to Inuyasha who only stared at her and she grew a bit nervous standing there.

Miroku who was seated behind Sango leaned forward next to her ear. "She's quite a looker isn't she?" Sango simply huffed and turned her face opposite of Miroku's. As he noticed this he moved his chin to her shoulder, "Aww, Sango, don't be mad, she couldn't possibly compare to you…"

BAM!

She raised her hand to back-fist him in the face.

"Sango!" Mr. Jaken said. "Stop hitting Miroku! Miroku, stop hitting ON Sango!"

Surprising they answered at the same time. "No". Jaken simply sighed and shook his head. "You can take your seat Kagome, there" he pointed.

And wouldn't you know it… it was right next to Kouga and in front of Inuyasha. 'Great' Kagome thought 'Thanks a lot you little imp'. She walked over to her seat and sat down. She felt a bit awkward sitting there, which was probably due to the stoic face staring at the back of her head, and a smirking face staring at her well… everything else from his view at her side. As well as several other stares from other young males in the class. But little did she know, she was getting a very harsh glare from a specific girl in the back. And during the whole class she felt embarrassed and nervous, as anyone would with people constantly staring at them.

After about an hour or so the bell rang. "All right class you have about 10 minutes until the next teacher arrives" Mr. Jaken said leaving. As soon as the door closed Kagome was surrounded by people, mostly boys, asking her all sorts of questions she really didn't want to answer.

"Where did you move from?"

"How tall are you?"

"Are you joining any clubs?"

"Do you like manga?"

"What's your favorite food?"

"Will you go out with me?"

"What are your sizes?"

"ENOUGH!" Kagome yelled, "That's too many questions!"

Kouga stood beside her "Yeah, and besides she only has one she _needs_ to answer…" he leaned down towards her, "When are we going on our date?"

"WHAT?!" Kagome as well as Ayame yelled.

"But Kouga…" Ayame said very quietly.

"Now wait a minute… I never said I'd go out with you…"

"What does it matter anyway…" he said as he leaned in closer, "not like you actually have a choice…" he leaned in even closer trying to kiss her.

That was all it took for a very large hand to plant itself on Kouga's face before it made contact with Kagome's and shove him back towards his desk. Kouga landed loudly with his back against the seat sitting on the floor staring up at the statuesque culprit. "That's enough Kouga! I think it's obvious she doesn't want any part of you, especially the forceful part" Inuyasha said looking slightly ticked.

Kouga stood up enraged, "And how would you know mutt-boy?!" He said getting right in his face. "Oh wait… I get it… you like her too…"

Inuyasha and Kagome's eyes widened and cheeks flushed a bit. And another pair of eyes in back narrowed. "What? Are you kidding, why would I like this wench?!" he said defensively while pointing at her. Kagome felt an almost sharp pain in her chest.

"So if you don't care about her, what's wrong with me going out with her?"

"Because I hate you, and I know how much you want to do that." They growled at each other pushing against one another's foreheads snarling.

"Alright you two, calm down!" The teacher had come in. "Sit down right now everyone!" They all sat. Inuyasha and Kouga still sending hateful glances at one another while Kagome stared down at her empty desk. The rest of the day went on like this, Inuyasha arguing with Kouga, while Kagome mostly kept silent.

After school Sango walked up to her still staring at her empty desk. "Kagome…"

She suddenly snapped out of it "Oh, what is it Sango?"

Sango sat next to her in Kouga's seat facing her. "Kagome… do you really want to join the cheerleading team? Because if you don't want to, I won't force you." She said very seriously but calmly.

"Well…" She looked around the room, seeing they were the only two there. "Heh, it's funny, now I almost expect someone to interrupt me." She looked Sango in the eyes, "Sango, at first I was reluctant, but since you finally _asked_ me and nicely, yeah, I will join" she said giving her a genuine smile.

"That's great!" she said standing up. "Now come on, we have to head to practice." Sango pulled Kagome out of her seat and the classroom. The locker room wasn't very big, but it was clean, and kinda cozy to Kagome's liking. Sango showed her to a locker in-between hers and Ayame's. "This is your locker…oh!" She went into a small back room and came out with a box. Opening it, Kagome saw a blue and yellow uniform saying "MHS" on the front. "And this is your uniform. It should fit, so try it on."

"Wow, thanks Sango." She looked around for another room. "Umm… where's the changing room?"

Sango started laughing. "Kagome, this is a locker room, you just change here."

"What?!"

"Yeah, trust me, it's just us gals here, no guys… oh wait a minute…" She walked over to the door by the hallway quietly, and in a flash turned the knob and kicked the door open.

And to Kagome's surprise, but not Sango's, they heard a loud thud followed by an "OWW!" When Sango opened it again, Kagome saw Miroku sitting on the ground clutching his head. "Damn it Sango, why'd you do that?! You could have given me a concussion!"

"It's your own fault you pervert!" She stepped out into the hallway. "Now get out of here, you have practice too."

"Alright, alright." She stared angrily at him as he sauntered off.

"Excuse us!" She heard behind her. She turned around to see two girls, one with a red ribbon in her hair, and one with blue scrunchy holding in her ponytail. "Is this the cheerleaders' locker room?" the one with the ribbon asked.

Sango just stared down at them "Uhh… yeah."

"Yay!" They yelled in unison.

"My name is Momiji" the one with the ribbon said.

"And I'm Botan" the other said. "We'd like to join the team."

"Really?" Sango asked.

"Yeah!"

"Well… alright!" She went back to the box and pulled out two smaller uniforms. "Here you go" she said giving them to the girls while leading them inside and closing the door. The four of them headed out towards the hill overlooking the team when they were done changing. There was plenty of space there for them to practice. On the way there, Kagome saw four girls waiting there for them. She recognized Ayame, but not the other three, at first.

"I was wondering when you two would show up" Ayame said, "Hey, who are the two 1st years?"

"This is Botan and Momiji" Sango said turning to said girls and Kagome. "And they are Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi."

"Hey you're that new girl in our class Kouga tried to ask out!" Eri said.

"How could you Kagome?!" Ayame butted-in, "I thought we were friends, and you go and try to steal my Kouga!"

"Hey, now wait a minute, I didn't try to steal anyone. _He_ wouldn't leave _me_ alone. Seriously Ayame, I don't want to be with him at all, he's all yours, honestly." Kagome retorted.

Ayame got a bit of a sad look, "Really? You're not trying to steal him?"

"No, you can have him."

"As if she ever had him in the first place." Yuka said.

"Hey, what do you mean by that?!" Ayame said.

"**Enough Everyone!**" Sango yelled getting everyone's attention. "We came here to practice, not jabber-on, so let's get to it!" For about the next hour or so they went over cheers and simple motions, mostly arm movements. "Alright it's been long enough, let's take a break!" They all sat on the grass and chatted.

"Hey Sango, is there some water somewhere around here?" Kagome asked.

"Oh I forgot to bring it out today. But there's a bunch of water bottles down by the football team, they never mind when we help ourselves to some, there's always plenty."

"Oh, okay." She stood up and walked down the hill where she saw several green water bottles and helped herself. "AHHhhh…" she let out a very refreshing sigh after a long swig.

"Oooh, I like it when you make that sound." She turned around and saw a full-padded, very sweaty Kouga. "I knew you couldn't stay away from me." He stopped for a moment and thought. "That does it; I've decided that now you're _my_ woman."

"What?!" she yelled.

"Now hold it right there you mangy wolf!" Kagome glanced to Kouga's right to see an angry Inuyasha.

"Interrupting us again mutt-boy, she's _my_ woman now, so stay away from her!"

"She ain't your woman you bastard! Now get in the shed, Coach Myoga's giving an Offensive chalk-talk."

As if on cue, they heard an annoyed voice from in the shed. "Kouga! Get your mangy ass in here now!"

"Coming! See ya later Kagome" he said with a wink. She felt a familiar cringe run up her spine.

"Didn't I tell you to be careful wench?!"

"Shut up! Why do you bother doing something nice for me when you just turn around and call me names?"

"_**Names?**_ Oh, you mean the whole "wench" thing, I call every girl that. I guess you can say it's a bad habit I picked up from my father."

"Oh" Kagome said staring down. "Th…thanks for helping me… again."

"Yeah sure" he said nonchalantly.

"Hey Kagome! Are you coming back or what?!" Ayame called.

"Guess I should be getting back too" Inuyasha said, half-way turned around.

"Wait" Kagome said. She walked up to his side that was facing her, got to her toes and quickly kissed his cheek. "Really… thanks". She didn't look in his eyes; she just turned and ran up the small incline with a hidden smile blush on her face. Inuyasha stood there with a blush of his own, staring at her as she walked away.

"Inuyasha!"

He walked back to the defense still looking at the hill where she had just been, that is until Sesshomaru smacked him upside the head. "Hey, what was that for?!"

"Focus little brother" he said as his face grew to a scowl.

And unbeknownst to any of them, that far away another pair of eyes had seen the whole thing and held a scowl themselves.

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OOoooohh who is this mystery person? Well, I already know, anyways, I've decided that there will be no update at all until I get at least 5 more reviews for this story. I work my butt off writing these chapters during my classes and typing them in time I could be studying, so I'd like some reviews. I think I'm entitled to that.

Update: I still need 3 more before the update. **NO REVIEWS NO NEW CHAPTERS**


	4. Rival

Okay, I'm actually putting this chapter out before I wanted to, but I felt it was a long enough wait. IF you want to know when the next chapter's going to be out just look at my author's note at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 4: Rival 

It was finally the end of practice and the other girls had gone in to change. But not Kagome. She decided to stay back, well not really decided, but, just ended-up. She caught sight of Inuyasha and just stood there staring. Soon she saw that their practice had ended. She watched as they circled around the coach and took to one knee. They were completely absorbed in his speech. Then he pointed to someone. That someone was Inuyasha, who came to stand next to the lilliputian coach. After a few more words from Coach Myoga the rest of the team clapped, seemingly directed at Inuyasha. He looked around at all of his teammates, that is… until he saw someone else. Off on the hill he saw the lone Kagome. His eyes caught with hers for a moment, and that's all it took for her to run back off to the locker room blushing.

She finally arrived, standing outside the club door, catching her breath and collecting her thoughts. 'What was that all about? Why was I staring at him?' she thought.

"Hey you!" She turned around to see a girl only slightly taller than her. It was the same girl from that morning, and she didn't look happy. She puts her arms on both sides of Kagome, hands hard against the wall, leering angrily at her. "You stay away from Inuyasha, he's mine. Always has been, and always will be." She moved her face in closer. "Stay away from him or you will regret it. And besides, it's not like he'd want _you_ anyway."

"Kikyo" She suddenly went from anger to innocent as she turned to Sango.

"Why Sango, what's the problem?"

"Leave Kagome alone Kikyo" she said sternly.

"Oh Kagome is it?" She turned to face her "We were just having a nice little chat about boys… weren't we?" Kagome only nodded her head after a slight pause. "You see Sango?" She turned to leave, "Bye Kagome, remember what we talked about okay?" she said with an innocent smile.

After Kikyo was out of sight, "Alright Kagome, what did she say to you?"

This brought Kagome out of the shock she was in, "Oh, nothing important".

"Come on Kagome, don't hide it. I know Kikyo more than you do, and I know she doesn't talk to any _girls_ without being mad at them." Then looked at her pleadingly, "Now tell me Kagome, please".

"…….. Okay" she said depressed and embarrassed "She said to… stay away from Inuyasha cause he was hers."

"Is _that_ what this was about?" She leaned against the wall next to Kagome, staring at no where in particular. "You see Kikyo is Inuayasha's _ex_-girlfriend. He broke up with her last year, and she's been bitter about it ever since, even though _she_ was sleeping around on _him_."

"On my…. really?"

"Yeah, he tries to distance himself from her. ……. But… I'm wondering… why would Kikyo tell _you_ to stay away from Inuyasha, huh?" she asked growing a bit anxious.

"Huh? …… What? …. I…"

"Oh my God, you like Inuyasha!"

"What?!" she said getting red. "No I don't!"

"Oh yes you do!"

"No I don't!" she yelled getting even redder.

"Come on Kagome, it's written all over your face…"

"It is?" she said a bit depressed.

"Well now you've practically admitted it."

"……….." Kagome stared down at her feet, still beet red.

"Aww Kagome, I was just teasing you, don't feel bad. I'm just used to it from the others saying I like Mi……. never mind."

"No wait" Kagome looked at her "what was that?"

"Nothing, I said never mind."

"Oh no, you were about to say Miroku weren't you? You like him!"

"No I don't! Who would like that pervert?!" Now it was Sango's turn to be red in the face.

'That blush on your face says _you_ like that pervert."

"I…. I…."

"It's okay Sango, I won't say anything if you don't."

"F… fine. Now get changed!"

"Okay" When Kagome was done they walked home together, because you know, they live across the street from each other.

"So Kagome, being this is our last year an all, I'm just curious, what are you thinking of studying next year?"

"Well, granted I get in, I want to study philosophy. I've always been interested in it because you get to think about and discuss the different ideas and theories of so many famous people."

"That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, and what about you?" Sango simply looked away and clutched her bag tightly. "Sango?"

"The truth is…. I don't want to go to college."

Kagome was, to say the least, surprised. "What? Why?"

"You see my family owns a small store and it does okay, but college is expensive, and I know my parents can't afford to send both me _and_ Kohaku to college. Besides ever since I was a kid I've kinda wanted to work there. I've done some work there during the summer, and I found it really enjoyable. My parents keep telling me I should go, but I know it's not going to work out well for _them_. And at this rate it's going to take a miracle to convince my parents to get me to stay."

"Oh Sango, I'm sorry, I… I didn't know…"

"It's alright Kagome, I didn't except you to know, its fine really." They arrived at the spot between their houses and say goodbye for the night.

The next morning seemed promising to Kagome, the sun was shined warmly, birds were singing sweetly, Inuyasha and Kouga were arguing, wait… what? Yep, wouldn't you know it, they were fighting…again. And at this distance, she could only make out the occasional curse word as well as her name. As she got closer and closer to her classroom, she could make out more and more.

"I said she's _mine_ so stay away from her. I know I heard you two talking at practice!"

"Like its any of your business that I talk to her!"

"I'm sick of having to repeat myself! She's _my_ woman, so it's _my_ business!" Kagome finally reached the door ands saw the two head to head. "Why don't you just go back to Kikyo?!"

At this Inuyasha grabbed him by the front of the collar roughly. "Don't you **ever** talk about her in front of me again!"

"And why not mutt-face?! She was talking about _you _plenty, something about you spending the night at her place."

"WHAT?!" Inuyasha as well as another voice yelled. He looked over towards the other voice seeing Kagome at the door, completely stunned. She took a step back into the hallway, and saw someone to her right. Kikyo looked at her with a very content smile on her face. Kagome turned and ran down the hall. Inuyasha ran to the door, facing the way she ran, not even noticing Kikyo; that is until she put her hands on his shoulders. He snapped around, smacking her hands away in the process.

"What's wrong Inu-baby?" She asked sweetly.

"Don't hand me that shit! What the hell are you doing spreading lies like that?!"

"Whatever do you mean sweetling?"

"You know exactly what I mean! So I'm going to say this once. Stay away from me you **slut! **And stay away from Kagome; she has nothing to do with this." With that he went after her walking briskly.

Their conversation attracted much attention from the rest of the class as they murmured to each other. Kikyo stared at where he had just been with an agitated look. "So if she has nothing to do with it, why are you going after her?" she said to herself.

Kagome sat on the landing in the stairwell, her knees clutched tightly to her chest. 'I'm so stupid….. I can't believe I …..'

"Kagome"

She looked up to see Inuyasha knelt down in front of her. "What do you want?!" she yelled at him.

"Why are you yelling at _me_?!"

"You didn't answer my question!"

He sighed, "You seemed really upset."

"Well no shit!"

"What's your problem?!"

'I can't tell him the truth' she thought. "It doesn't concern _you_"

Now this put Inuyasha down a bit. "Fine, whatever!" He turned to walk away. "But just so you know, that was a lie that Kikyo started up. I can't stand her." She looked up into his eyes. "Class is starting in a few minutes." And with that, he left her.

Back in the classroom, Sango was very worried. "I hope she's alright."

"Yeah" Miroku joined in, "It must be hard hearing about your crush doing something like that."

"Mm hmm" Sango nodded, then went wide-eyed as she turned to Miroku, "W..w.. what?!"

He turned to look at her as well as he stood side by side with her. "Oh come on Sango, she stares at him during practice, and now runs away hearing that rumor, you'd have to be an _idiot_ not to recognize she likes him."

At that moment Inuyasha walked through the door. "GOD! What is wrong with her?!" he said to no one in particular.

Sango and Miroku glanced at each other, "_Idiot"_ they both said.

"I'm not surprised." Sango said.

"Neither am I" Miroku said. And very soon he reached behind her with a smile on his face and anger on hers.

"And I'm not surprised at this either" she said making a fist. **SMACK!!** She left Miroku on the ground with a red hand mark on his cheek and the word "pervert" left in his ears as she walked away fuming.

Inuyasha only saw, but didn't hear about what happened. He walked over to Miroku and offered a hand to help him up. When he was finally standing again, all he could say to Inuyasha was "Oh yeah, she digs" with a smile on his red face.

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Now, I know that I have a total of 15 people who either added this story as a favorite or alert, and I only have 8 reviews --# . So I'll tell you all what, if at least 5 people review in 3 days of me posting this chapter, I'll type up and post the next chapter immediately. If it takes longer to get them... so it will for you all to get the next chapter. Honestly the reivews just let me know people like my stories, I know I should complete the chapter just for the sake of writing, but reviews make me feel better about what I'm doing and get my confidence up, and believe me, I don't have a lot of self confidence. 


	5. Opening Game

Wow, you guys really surpised me. I love you guys who reviewed: Frog Lady, Cowgirl 101, CloverBabe, darksoul 93, and mangalover4ever07. You guys have given me so much love and hope. Thank you. as promised, he's the next chapter. If you haven't already, my profile has pictures of the jerseys, and helmets of the players, just for a better visual. Also I hope you all know plenty about footbal or this might be a bit hard to follow, and if not I have a few notes at the bottom to help.

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Chapter 5: Opening Game

It had been a little over a week since the Kikyo incident, and Kagome hadn't _exactly_ listened to her. Inuyasha and her would exchange a few words now and then, nothing major or important, and usually while in the presence of others; namely Miroku and/or Sango, never alone. Today was Friday, and the season-opener for the Hanyous. Normally all students had wear uniforms, but on days they had games; thee football players were given special permission from Principal Kaede to wear their jerseys along with their normal school uniform pants. She did this because she wanted the players to be cheered on and encouraged by other students the day of the game; she was cool like that, even in her old age.

After the school day had ended, the teams went to get ready for the games. All the girls were in their locker room changing. "So Sango" Kagome said, "is there anything special about this team they're facing?"

Sango thought for a moment, trying to find something, "Not really, the only have 1 player worth mentioning. Their Middle Linebacker Taigokumaru. He's known for being big and scary so other players find him intimidating."

"Is he better than Inuyasha?"

Sango gave a snort then started laughing, "Oh hell no! He only has size. Inuyasha is stronger, faster, with better instincts. He doesn't stand a chance in hell!" All the girls started laughing as they finished changing and headed out to the game field where the football team was already warming up. They stretched in unison, ran through small position drills, and team drills. And after some time they left and went down that small incline into the shed.

"Where are they going? The game's going to start in like 10 minutes!" Kagome yelled.

"Relax" Ayame said, "They always do this. They go down to the shed and go over last-minute reminders… and… a prayer I think."

Down at the shed, Myoga was talking to the team. "Okay everyone, this is it. You've been training since last season ended for this. You've done everything I've asked you to do since then, but now, there's one more thing I'm going to ask of you……. win." The rest of the team only stared at him, their focus unwavering. "Jinenji, remember if you get a chance, let the rest of the Offensive Line take the Defensive Line and you go block Taigokumaru."

"Yes sir" he said in his low clam voice.

"Miroku, throw high against him, he can't jump very high."

"You got it!" he said confidently.

"Sesshomaru, work hard to the outside, their Quarterback likes to roll out of the pocket.(1)"

"Understood" he said stoically.

"Shippo, jam(2) those receivers hard to slow their routes and give Sesshomaru more time."

"Consider it done" he said hyper and a bit anxious.

"Inuyasha……… try not to hurt anyone _**too**_ bad."

"No promises" he said with a smirk.

"… Alright everyone out." They stepped out of the shed into the open. In the distance they could hear the crowd grow anxious. "Take a knee everyone." They did so, gathered around him in a circle with Myoga in the core. On their right knees, with their helmets in their hands gripping the facemasks, the backs touching the ground, the players eyes cast down, most closed.

"Dear God, help me to be a player in this game of life. I don't ask for any easy plays, I only ask for the stuff to give 100 of what I've got. Help me to understand this game is full of knocks and troubles, help me to play on the square. And finally…"

The team began rattling the backs of their helmets against the ground.

"if I am laid on the shelf in sickness or injury, help me to take that as part of the game too. Help me _never_ to whimper of squeal that I had a raw deal. And at the end, I ask for no lying compliments. I only wanna know…"

The rest of the team joined in.

"**That I am a competitor!**"

"Now get out there boys!"

"YEAH!" they all cheered running up onto the field in front of the now roaring crowd. The players grouped together in the middle of the field with Inuyasha and most other 3rd years in the center as Inuyasha took the lead.

"Alright guys let's get it done! Take this game, put it in your heads, put it in your hearts, _let's go to war_! And let's welcome these assholes to the Wishbone!" They jumped in unison with their helmets held high above their heads chanting.

"Welcome to the Wishbone, Wishbone, Wishbone!"

"Welcome to the Wishbone, Wishbone, Wishbone!"

"Welcome to the Wishbone, Wishbone, Wishbone!"

"Welcome to the Wishbone, Wishbone, Wishbone!"

"WOOOO!!!"

""Hanyous" on three!" Inuyasha yelled.

"**1, 2, 3, Hanyous!**"

They broke apart and headed for the sidelines, except for Inuyasha who stayed at center field as the refs approached along with a rather large player the number 52 on his red, yellow, and black jersey. He stood a little taller than Inuyasha and much wider, but Inuyasha's stern glare at the colossal player never faltered. The referees spoke to both of them. "Alright captains, nice to meet you. Dark Bats, since you are the away team, you call it."

"Tails." Taigokumaru said in a low gravely voice.

The ref flipped the coin in the air and it landed on the ground, heads-up.

"It's heads, your call Hanyous."

"Receive." Inuyasha stated never breaking a fierce eye contact with Taigokumaru.

"Very well, Dark Bats, which side of the field will be yours?" He pointed to his right. "Alright, shake hands and let's have a good game!" They looked very disgusted at each other; they extended their hands, but gave more of a quick pat with their gloved hands then a shake and went back to their sidelines.

They lined up for kick-off(3) as the crowd hoped and hollered for the two teams. The kicker was ready and made his approach, booting the ball towards one of the return-men Ginta. He avoided a few players but was grabbed by the leg at his own 40-yard line and fell. This is where their offense drive would start. The offense went out to the field and huddled up holding hands as Miroku took to one knee with the play.

"Alright boys, first play of the season so let's make it a good one; … Right, New York, 14; on 1, on1, ready…"

"**Break!**" they yelled and clapped their hands heading to the Line of Scrimmage(4). The offensive lined up at the LOS with Jinenji over the ball, a Tight End(5) on the left side of the line, with Kouga split out to the right. Miroku stood behind Jinenji. Hachi stood almost 2 yards behind him, Hakkaku and Ginta stood 2 yards behind Hachi next to each other with some space between them.

Taigokumaru grinned widely with a fierce gaze at Miroku. "Fresh meat boys! Fresh meat!" he yelled.

Miroku glanced at him unfazed and simply winked at him with a smirk as he got under center. "Set… GO!"

The ball was snapped and Miroku put it in front of Hachi as he came forward. Taigokumaru lunged forward, tackling Hachi at the LOS. He smiled widely as he looked down at his victim who had nothing in his hands. Taigokumaru went wide-eyed and looked up to see Miroku pitch it to Hakkaku to the right for a 15 yard gain running out-of-bounds.

In the defensive huddle Taigokumaru was yelling at his team. "Concentrate heavy on middle and far outside, ready… BREAK!" The offense lined up the same way. The ball was snapped and Hachi came forward once again. Taigokumaru came forward to stop him once again noticing he had no ball. He looked to the outside and saw Hakkaku covered completely; however, Miroku still had the ball and ran for 12 yards before being hit from the side.

The next huddle was filled with more anger. "What's wrong with you guys?! … Alright fine! Let's stack the outside!"

"But what about…"

"Shut up!!!" The defense lined up with the linebackers far to the outside after the ball was snapped, the outside-linebackers and Taigokumaru headed right for Miroku and Hakkaku, but saw as Miroku simply handed it to Hachi who ran it up the middle, past the well-blocked defensive line for a 10 yard gain before being tackled by both safeties.

After this, Taigokumaru was irate. "DAMNIT! I've had enough of this. YOU - safeties, move down towards the line to stop 33, while the rest of us take the outside."

"But Tai…"

"**SHUT UP!**"

Every player on the defense stayed within 5 yards of the LOS. This time, after the ball was snapped and Hachi came forward again; the safeties ran up but noticed he stopped before he touched the offensive line. Miroku stepped behind him holding the ball. Taigokumaru went wide-eyed once more as he looked behind him to see Kouga run straight for 8 yards, then cut at a deep angle towards the inside of the field as Miroku passed the ball to him, and with no safeties to guard the deep middle area, there was no one to stop this speed-demon from reaching the end zone(6)

The crowd cheered loudly as the ref threw hi arms up for the signal as the game announcer yelled, "TOUCHDOWN!!(7)" Taigokumaru dropped to his knees in disbelief. The field goal team went on the field to kick the extra point. "Score: Musashi Hanyous - 7, Hiroshima Dark Bats - 0."

This time it was Kouga's turn to kick-off. He **booted** the ball past the end zone, which is what the team liked. They didn't want the other team to even have a chance of doing some damage against them. Now it was _finally_ Inuyasha's turn to take the field. Kagome watched him intently, almost completely ignoring what the other cheerleaders were doing, as he strapped on his helmet. The sight of his tremendously thick facemask and his eye-black shaped like talons on his face, send a chill even through her as he jogged up to the huddle near the 20 yard line. The offense lined up in a normal I-Formation(8).

"Down… set… HIKE!" Jinenji wasn't a bit surprised that he got double teamed at the line. Inuyasha made a quick read and moved a bit to his left. The offensive line's left Guard went to his closest choice which was at this point the outside linebacker, _not_ Inuyasha, **big **mistake. When the guard moved away from Inuyasha, he sped forward, rushing through the gap the guard left behind finding the Dark Bat's halfback right in front of him. Inuyasha lowered himself at his hips and sprang forward, lunging at the half-back, knocking him completely backward as Inuyasha lay on top of him with a toothy grin.

He stood up as the whistle blew noticing the half-back wasn't moving… but he was breathing… that's a plus. The officials rushed over to him while the Dark Bat's coach was yelling for a penalty flag to be thrown, but the refs kept saying it was a clean hit.

Two officials ran over to look at him, "Well he's out" one said.

"…Cold" the other added.

Miroku shook his head covered in his hand, Kagome was a bit shocked, and Inuyasha was just wondering what the big deal was; it's not like this was the first time he had done this.

"Geez Inuyasha" Kohaku said "did you have to go _that_ far?"

"I wanted to set a tone and send a message; so yes. Besides this makes things better for Sesshomaru and Shippo, now they're more likely to pass the ball, so they can follow Myoga's strategy."

"After he was carted off the field, the offense lined up again."Down… set… HIKE!" The quarter back moved quickly to his right, moving away from the protective offensive line. Shippo had given a great initial hit on the right side, delaying the receiver's route. The QB saw his receiver wasn't where he was supposed to be, but he did see someone else; Sesshomaru heading right for him, The QB threw it at the last second just as Sesshomaru made contact. Under this kind of pressure, the ball was thrown poorly and the receiver couldn't tell where it was, but Shippo could. He sped up, right in the balls' path; intercepting(9) it. He made it almost to the 10 yard line before being pushed out by the back-up running-back.

The crowd cheered loudly as the offense went back out to the field calmly. Taigokumaru was _**so**_ mad he could barely stand it. "Set…GO!" The ball was snapped and Miroku faked a hand-off to Hachi who came up to his right. Ginta went towards the middle-left through a small hole in the line and Taigokumaru saw it, but as he went to his right he something huge in his way. Jinenji stayed as low as he could as he slammed his palms to Taigokumaru's chest and then exploded with power against him, knocking him onto his back. Meanwhile Hakkaku had done a counter-step and rushed after Ginta with the ball in hand, following his blocker all the way to the end zone. Taigokumaru layed on the ground staring up at the twilight sky knowing this was going to be a long night.

The rest of the games went on, no real change in pace. "Final Score: …" the announcer said, "Musashi Hanyous - 56, Hiroshima Dark Bats - 0" The crowd gave one last cheer, their throats sore. Taigokumaru was sprawled across the bench, tired, bruised, unable to move and even think. The team had gone to the stands to talk to and thank those who came. Most sought out parents or girlfriends. As Miroku went towards them, he saw the only reason he came over talking to some _other_ boy.

"My dear Sango," the boy said, "I am in Takeda Kuranosuke."

"Oh I remember, we had class together as 1st years. And you had terribles colds that whole year and kept getting runny noises" she said with a laughing smile gracing her lips.

"Yes, unfortunately that was the case. And I'm honored that you remember so much about me. I will be quite forward with you if you don't mind. For some time now I've harbored these deep feelings for you." Sango took a step back blushing. "I would like for you to go out with me. My family as you may know has a lot of money, so you'll have a lot of fun and we'll get to many great things together."

She looked away towards the ground. "I… I don't…"

"I see, you require time from the shock. Very well, I will be waiting for your answer." He strode away with a hopeful look.

Sango was still blushing as she heard the sound of cleated foot steps. She looked up and caught eyes with Miroku who didn't look too happy. He turned away from her and headed back towards the locker room.

Kagome was still slipping through the crowd of players and fans searching for _him_. She caught sight of him apparently looking for someone as well. As she took a few steps closer she saw Kikyo walk up behind him and tap him on the shoulder. As he turned around she jumped on him, looping her arms around his neck and kissing him full on the lips. Kagome took a few steps back before running back through the crowd, not even noticing Kouga trying to hit on her one more time.

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1) pocket - the offensive linemen drop back to shield the quarter back in an almost semi-circle, creating a "pocket" of protection.

2) jam - an initial hit on the receiver to slow his route and mess up timing for the offense by the defense.

3) kick-off the ball is placed at the 40 yard line and held up and is then kicked to the other team to be returned.

4) Line of Scrimmage- the line across the field at which the ball is placed.

5) Tight End- A position that is a mixture of receiver and an offensive lineman, they stay on the end of the line in the sme stance as the line man, and will either stay in to block or go out for a pass.

6)end zone - the area at the ends of the field where if the ball crosses it being held by a player will result in a Touchdown

7)Touchdown - a score of 6 points, followed either by a kick (1 point) through the up-rights, or another play (2 pts) (both down at the 3 yard line)

8) I-Formation -a receiver split out to both sides and a backfield forming a "I" by the half-back behind the fullback whose behind the quarterback.

9) Interceptions - a defender catching a pass thrown by the offense resulting in a change of possesion.

Wow, I'm drained. I typed this as soon as I got back from class, with a lunch break, and I'm finally done. I hope you like it. I'm still working on the next chapter. So it might be a little bit. But you should know that reviews encourage me to work faster, just in case.


	6. The Monday After

No, I'm not dead, and neither is this story. I know its been far too long since I last updated. I've had this written for a while but it took me a while to type cause I was always so busy, or just plain forgot. You have my utmost apologizes. And no, I don't own Inuyasha

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Chapter 6: The Monday After

The weekend was quiet, no one even bothered to send so much as a text message, much less a phone call. Sango simply sat on the floor in her room, internally torn between the huge fork in her future. Miroku's facial expression was near-unreadable besides the fact that it was _**not**_ happy. Kagome was near tears the whole weekend, even her mother asking her how the game went when she got home nearly drove her over the edge. She tried distracting herself with other things, but always came back to that night. Inuyasha walked around all week with a scowl and was wondering where the hell everyone was.

When it finally hit Monday, Kagome and Sango met in the morning on their way to school, but only walked together in silence without so much as a nod of acknowledgement to each other. The silence was straining both of them, each aware of the others problems, that's until…. "Why can't you say anything?!" they both yelled. "I…" they both started.

"You first" Sango said.

"No, no, you first" Kagome insisted.

Sango just sighed, "Fine… I was asked out." She said looking away.

"So what? I thought you liked hi…"

"It wasn't Miroku!" She roared back at Kagome causing her to back away a bit stunned. It was this guy Takeda Kuranosuke, we had class together 1st year. His family is well off and he's a nice guy, not-bad looking, but… but…"

"He's not Miroku" Kagome finished understandingly.

"He saw us."

"Huh?"

"Miroku saw us! While Takeda was asking, Miroku was there, listening!"

"Well what did you say?"

"…Nothing. I didn't give him an answer, and I couldn't say a word to Miroku before he walked away. He looked so mad." Sango stared down at the ground in her total loathing. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Me neither"

Sango stared at her friend in confusion. "Why? What happened?"

"I… I was walking through the crowd after the game and I…"

"You what?"

"I saw Inuyasha kissing Kikyo!" she screamed.

"What?!"

"Well technically she kissed him, but… but…" Her eyes started to water again.

"Kagome, what did you do?"

"…I ran"

"What? You ran?"

"I panicked okay?! I couldn't stand the sight of it!"

"Oh, Kagome…"

Then suddenly a bell burst through the tense of their conversation, and they were quite surprised to find they were already at school.

On the opposite side of the school, not too long ago, in the parking lot, Miroku walked up to Inuyasha's car as it pulled in, or rather he simply walked past it. Inuyasha seeing his friend the whole way in got out quickly. "Oi, Houshi!"

Miroku looked at his long-haired friend, "What?" he said, obviously in a bad mood.

"Geez, what's your problem? I haven't seen you since the game, and you completely skipped Saturday morning practice, you pissed of Myoga something fierce and he said that today he's gonna make you do up-downs till you puke."

"What do you care?" he responded, unfazed.

"What did you say?!" He said aggravated. 'If he's talking to _**me**_ like this, he must be seriously pissed.'

"Look it doesn't concern you alright, so just drop it." He said turning away heading back towards the school.

Inuyasha followed after him. "Hey come on Miroku, something's seriously got your panties in a bunch, so just vent."

Miroku stopped dead in place and turned back to face him. "Okay, fine. Sango was asked out by another guy okay! Happy now?!"

Inuyasha was to say the least surprised, "What, that's it?"

"That's it? THAT'S IT?! That's all you have to say?!" he yelled back.

"What's the big deal? Guys have asked her out before and that never fazed you much." Miroku looked away and started walking again. "Hey come on" Inuyasha said going after him. What do you think she'll actually go out with him?"

Miroku stopped again. "Why wouldn't she? He's got the looks, the money, the connections…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa" Inuyasha interjected, "who is this guy?"

"… Takeda Kuranosuke."

"Oh… hmm… wow" Inuyasha said as he put the pieces together, "That's a tough one, but anyway she barely knows him, why would she?"

"I can't read minds Inuyasha, I have no idea."

"Wait… did she even say she was or not?"

Miroku hmphed, "No."

"So she's thinking it out, big deal, chicks can never make up their mind about anything!"

Miroku simply groaned as the corner of his mouth twinged upward for a second at his comment, "Yeah, ain't that the truth."

"Don't worry too much about it, how shitty you felt in your head, I felt physically all weekend."

"What are you talking about? No one even got a single hit on you during the game."

"It wasn't the game, it was Kikyo."

"Kikyo?!"

"Yeah, after the game, she came up from behind me and kissed me. Saturday, I must have thrown up three times just thinking about it… I hope she didn't give me mouth herpes or something!"

Now that finally got Miroku to smile and even chuckle. "You never know. You want me to lend you some penicillin or something just to be safe?" he said laughing.

"Oh yeah, no surprise _**you**_ would have a supply" he retorted laughing as well until he noticed that Miroku suddenly stopped laughing. He looked to where Miroku's eyes pointed and saw Kagome and Sango.

Miroku and Sango locked until Miroku looked away and walked towards class. Sango gripped her notebooks tighter and walked away from the other two.

Inuyasha was left staring down at Kagome, who was looking very pensive. "Hey" he said with a tiny smile.

"Don't give me that" she said blandly.

"Huh?"

"I saw you…"

"Saw me what?"

"You're such a jerk Inuyasha!" she yelled running off.

He was left there all alone with a look of udder confusion. 'What did I do? She saw me doing what? I haven't done anything… PFFT! Women!" He walked to class and saw Miroku, Kagome, and Sango all at their desks ignoring each other.

Mr. Jaken walked in behind him. "Take your seat Mr. Taisho" he said firmly.

"Huh? Oh, sure." He walked towards his desk, eyeing Kagome questioningly but noticed she stared down at her desk the whole time. He took he seat behind her as the lecture started.

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By the time lunch rolled around, everyone seemed lively again, except of course for those four. Sango left the room as soon as the bell hit and Miroku didn't go after her, he simply went to the next class to talk to Hachi. Kagome went to the back of the class and talked with Ayame. Inuyasha was about to straighten things out until Kouga pulled up a chair next to her.

"Hey Kagome…" he said as smoothly as his coarse voice would let him.

"Hi Kouga!" Ayame chirped him, panning for his attention, yet to only go ignored.

"Hey, why were you so down Friday?" he asked.

"I…" she looked up and saw Inuyasha coming up behind Kouga. "I don't wanna talk about it" She finished looking back down.

"Aww… come on, tell your Kouga all about it" he said sliding closer, trying to snake his arm around her. That is until Inuyasha grabbed and squeezed the top of his head with his massive calloused hand.

"You ain't hers ya mangy wolf!" Inuyasha interrupted.

Kouga's face went from gentle to enraged. "What was that dog-breath?!"

"I said you ain't hers and you never will be, so just stop bothering her!"

"Bothering her? I was just asking her a question!"

"No, you were pushing a subject that she didn't want to talk about!" he yelled back. Kagome instantly stood up and quickly walked out of the room without saying a word.

They both watch her the whole way and as soon as she was gone Kouga turned his head to Inuyasha, "Now look what you did mutt-face, you scared her off!"

"I what?!" he retorted turning to face Kouga. She probably left so you couldn't give her fleas!"

"What?!" The two bumped heads pushing against the other growling with teeth bared like fangs.

Kagome walked straight into the nearest bathroom down that hall, knowing Inuyasha couldn't follow here in here. She turned on the faucet and rubbed her face slowly with some cold water. As she brought her head up to look in the mirror, she saw a large mess of black hair, and as her vision cleared she noticed it wasn't hers. She looked ghastly into the devilish smirk reflected in the looking glass.

"Hello again Kagome." She whipped around to face the smiling mug of Kikyo. "Why, whatever is wrong dear? Are you crying?" she asked in her most mocking voice.

"Why are you here?" said Kagome.

"It's the girls room Kagome, do I need a reason?"

"I mean here by me."

Kikyo moved in a bit closer to her "Well I saw you come in here so quickly I thought something might be wrong."

"Why do you care?"

"I don't" she responded flatly. "Just making sure you know about me and Inuyasha."

"I know enough from Friday."

"Aah yes, Friday" she said as if remembering a dream "quite a show we put on huh?"

"You know I saw you? I thought you were too busy…"

"Doesn't matter" Kikyo interrupted her quickly, "All that does is…"

There was a sudden banging on the door. "Kagome!" It was Inuyasha's voice. "I know you're in there, I heard your voice!"

'Why's he here?' Kagome thought, "I thought he'd be too busy with Kouga.'

Meanwhile down the hall, Kouga's head was laying on the desk with a large bump protruding from it, seemingly unconscious with Ayame holding his hand. "Kouga, I know you were mad, but Inuyasha's just physically stronger, you should have known better" she stated before clutching his arm dreamily.

Back at the ladies room, Inuyasha was still talking to a mute door. "I just wanna know why you're so mad. What did you see me doing? The last time we saw each other was Friday, and the only thing that happened that I can think of that day that I wouldn't want you to see was something that completely disgusted even me."

'What?' Kagome rang in her head.

'Damn' thought Kikyo.

"Can you at least let me know you're listening?" he nearly pleaded.

"Inu-" she was immediately cut-off by Kikyo's hand covering her mouth.

"Well fine! Be mad for no reason! Two can play at that game!" he yelled storming off.

When she was sure he was gone, Kikyo let her hand away from Kagome's mouth, but only to grip her arm and dig her far-too-long nails into her skin. "Now you listen to me _homewrecker_,this is the last time I'll say it. Inuyasha is mine, back away from him or you may just find yourself sucking hospital jello through a straw." Her eyes screeched death into Kagome's and then quickly exited thorough the door.

Kagome stood there for a moment against the sink silently before walking back to class. When she walked in she saw Inuyasha's back to her, talking to Miroku. She walked up right behind him, "Umm… Inuyasha…" she said barely audible.

Inuyasha stopped talking but instantly started up again. "That's odd, I thought I heard somebody trying to talk to me rationally, I must be hearing things Miroku."

"Inuyasha, I don't think you should…" Miroku started.

"But that's crazy, cause when someone talks, it means another has to answer, and since I'm not answering, NO ONE must be talking." He didn't even bother to look back as he walked towards his desk and stared directly out the window.

Miroku looked down at Kagome who was hanging her head. "So what exactly…" he started again.

That is until Sango walked back into the room with the teacher directly behind her. "Everyone take your seats" the teacher said boldly to be heard over the ramblings of the students. Sango quietly took her seat in front of Miroku, careful not to look back at him. Kagome on her way back to her seat saw Inuyasha's gaze never leave the sight opposite the glass. "Mr. Okami" the teacher said, "Could you please put your head up and pay attention." Kouga still had his head down with a throbbing lump. Ayame, who was sitting behind him, discreetly reached over and grabbed his long hair in a ponytail and pulled it back. His head was pulled up and rested on his shoulders with his eyes still in the back of his head. "That's better, now let's begin." She said getting back to the agenda.

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When classes were done, most went home. Miroku gathered his books in his bag, "Alright Inuyasha, let's go, we don't want to be late again."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. It's not like coach can actually do anything _that_ bad to me, besides you already have an entire practice to make for" he replied standing up and walking out.

"Hey wait" Hachi said.

"What?!" Inuyasha barked down at him."

"What about him?" Hachi answered pointing at Kouga who was still in la-la land staring up blankly at the ceiling.

"Just leave him; it's his own damn fault." Inuyasha said walking out.

Miroku on the other hand was a little more rational. "Hachi, I think it would be best if you woke him. HE's needed greatly at practice, and Myoga will be quite sour if he misses it."

"Wait, why do I have to wake him up?" he asked with a hint of fear in his voice as he looked at Miroku.

"Because of that" Miroku said pointing in the direction of Koga.

"Huh?" Hachi followed his finger. "I don't see anything Mir…" he turned around to see that Miroku has completely vanished. "Damn it" he muttered, "I always fall for that." He warily trudged up to Kouga's desk, who was still very dazed. "Uhh… Kouga?" he said carefully while shaking his shoulders.

Kouga's head wobbled in place a bit before falling forward and smashing on the desk. "AAHHH!" Kouga yelled popping up holding his head. "Son of a bitch!"

"Uhh… Kouga…" Hachi said very carefully.

Koga turned to him with fore in his eyes and grabbed him by the collar "Where's that no good… hey… where'd everyone else go?" he said finally looking around at the empty classroom.

"They went home; it's the end of the day."

"WHAT?!" Grrrrr… I'm gonna kill him!" he yelled grabbing his things and racing off.

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Cheerleading practice seemed rather dull, mostly because Sango just didn't seem to care much about leading the practice well, taking all of the "cheer" right out of it. (A/N: If you take the "leader" and "cheer" out of "cheerleader", what's left?)

Football practice wasn't much better. Inuyasha was in a _bad_ mood all day, and he took it out on the scout team by not holding back in his hits like he usually would. Kouga seemed not to really block the scout defensive backs, but rather man-handle them as he would take them to the ground, which for almost any offensive player is a rarity. And Miroku was sailing his passes and missing his pitches. He constantly misread the defense and as he would forgo the handoff to Hachi he several times found a defensive lineman right in front of his face before the large body would come to a stop to keep him from being hurt. None of which escaped the watchful eyes of Myoga. And today it seemed that practice would never come to an end.

When it finally reached 5:30, several people breathed a huge sigh of relief. The girls were a bit frustrated; today had been so slow and seemed pointless. When the football team broke apart to head back to the locker room, Myoga spoke one last thing. "Inuyasha, Kouga, Miroku, I want to talk to you now!" The boys came to the front as the rest left, with Miroku in the middle of the other two to try and keep some good space between them. "I know we won last week, but that doesn't give any of you the right to slack off! The Spiders may not be a _great _team, but they're no push-overs, and we need to finish strong in our last pre-season game going into our conference opener! Koga…" he turned to him calmly, "You have so much potential, don't blow it with your anger. Miroku… I don't know what's distracting you, but you should put it out of your mind when you come to practice and focus on your targets. And Inuyasha… I know you're supposed to be aggressive, but hurting your fellow teammates will not be tolerated. Is that understood?!"

"Yes sir!" They responded promptly.

"Good, now get out of here." They turned around and started to walk away until "Not you Miroku… you have to make up for Saturday's practice."

"Well, I was close" Miroku said to Inuyasha before stepping back to Myoga.

"I hope you enjoyed your day off, now get 'em choppin!" he yelled as Miroku started chopping his feet, preparing for an onslaught of up-downs.

They trotted back to the locker room in silence, Kouga father ahead. Kouga made it to the door far before Inuyasha and simply went in. Inuyasha made to the door, but before he could reach the handle heard the sound of another door opening. He looked to his left to see Kagome walk sullenly out of the door staring at her shoes. As he made his way over to her, the clacking sound of his cleats forced her to face opposite him.

He took a deep, calming breath, "Hey there"

"What do you want?"

"To talk"

"Oh, so _**now**_ you want to talk!"

"Look, I know I was being difficult earlier, but so were you!"

"Not by choice!"

H looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I … well…" she looked up into his bright amber eyes then back down at the steely cold black top. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"I just shouldn't"

Inuyasha scowled a bit and gripped the facemask of his helmet in his right hand tighter. "Then are you gonna tell me why you've been avoiding me ever since before that?" Her memory flashed back to Friday night, the cheering, the colors, the collisions… the kiss. "Why are you so mad at me?"

"It's because of Kikyo!" she finally screamed.

Inuyasha rose an eyebrow, "Kikyo?" His mind raced back to Friday as well, then forward to this morning, _"I saw you"_ rang in his head as his eyes soon widened. "Wait… when you said earlier you "saw me", you meant… Friday?" Kagome nodded her head, never making eye-contact. "Oh… I see… you thought we… oh no."

"Why did you lie to me?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You said you couldn't stand her!"

"I _**can't**_ stand her! I didn't know she would do that, it just happened! And I felt sick all day Saturday because of it too!"

"Why should I believe you?"

"Would you rather believe some bitch that _**NO ONE**_ trusts?!" Kagome was a bit taken back.

"Inuyasha!" From behind him, Myoga stood at the door to the locker-room with an exhausted Miroku. "Stop yelling at that cheerleader and change now!" Inuyasha regretfully turned around and walked away without a word following behind Miroku into the locker-room.

As soon as the door closed, the one behind her opened to reveal Sango. "Kagome…" she started softly, "I'm not raking his side, but he may have a point." Kagome simply kept her gaze downwards.

The next few days were rather quiet, and seemed to drag on and on because of it. Inuyasha tried to talk to Kagome, but she stated she had simply wanted time to think. Sango had done a great job at avoiding Miroku, who actually did very little of trying to go after her.

Friday had finally rolled around and most of the players were ready for kick-off, _most_. Kouga had mostly gone back to normal, except he seemed very intense for the game, his practices had been superb, and his kicks were getting longer with more range. Inuyasha was still a bit hesitant, his mind always going back to Monday. Kagome was fighting an internal battle as her conscience was deciding who was lying. Sango was torn, choose smart or choose heart. Miroku was still unreadable in his emotions, but his usual perverted actions had not happened all week, he never even spouted a single innuendo.

After school the cheerleaders were heading out early to greet all of the fans. They stood outside the locker-room chatting until Sango came out. "Okay, let's see if we have everything" she stated for everyone to hear. "Do we have the banner?"

"Check!" said Botan and Momiji yelled in unison holding up a large paper banner that the team would run through as they came onto the field.

"Everyone has their pom pons?"

"Check!" yelled Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka striking a pose.

"And the snacks for the team after the game?"

"Check!" said Ayame holding several grocery bags.

"Good, then we can…"

"Sango." Said a voice flatly to her side. This drew the attention of all the girls. Off to the side, stood Miroku, dressed in full pads, clutching his helmet by its facemask.

"Uh… we should really get going everyone" she said frantically trying to hurry them.

"I need to talk to you **now**." He stated.

Sango looked back to him with a hint of horror in her eyes. "Sango" said Kagome calmly, "I'll take them out, and you can stay here." She turned to the others, "Let's go already!" The rest of the squad simply nodded and walked out to the game-field leaving the two of them.

Miroku and Sango never moved, him staring at her, her at the ground. "Sango" he said once more getting her to look up at him. "I just want you to be happy."

"What?" she said in disbelief.

"We both know what happened last week, and I simply wanted you to know, no matter what decision you make, I'll be glad as long as you're happy."

"Mi- Miroku…" she started.

"Houshi!" yelled a voice behind the door, "Get your ass in here now!" Miroku sighed calmly and gave her once last glance with a smile before he left her. Sango held in a breath as she leaned back up against the wall and held a hand to her chest. She looked up into the sky as she watched the blazing sun start to turn a shade of orange and red against the faded clouds as it sunk lower.

She trudged her way out to the field where the others were talking to the fans. "Hey Sango!" Ayame yelled getting her attention as most of them came up to her.

"What did he say to you?" asked Ayumi.

"You're not seriously thinking about that pervert are you?" asked Eri.

"Yeah, you were asked out by _the_ Takeda Kuranosuke!" added Yumi.

"You guys", interjected Kagome, "Give her some space. We have other things to do."

"Alright…" the three said slinking away.

Kagome placed a hand on her shoulder "Look, I know it must be tough, but let's not worry about it until after the game okay?" she said soothingly.

"…Ok … thanks" she replied.

"Sure" The clacking of drumsticks overtook their ears followed by the pickup of the band as the players took the field for their warm-ups. "Well, it's showtime" she said shaking her pon poms encouragingly.

The players went through their usual routine; stretching, drills, prayer, the welcoming, and eventually the coin flip. It was decided that the Shinjuku Spiders would receive. The crowd was cheering, waiting for the kick-off. Koga placed the ball on the tee, took his steps back and to the side and rose his hand to show is readiness to the referees. After the whistle, he made his approach, booting the football down the field.

And so the Hanyou-Spiders game was underway.

* * *

Well, I have the next chapter written, ready for typing. But it might take some time to get to. But I will let you all know, I have every intention of finishing this story. It won't be one of those stories sitting on a watched list forever but never being updated or finished. I already know how I want this to end, even though that isn't coming anytime soon. So I hoped you enjoyed it being that it was a long time coming. And once more, I'm incredibly sorry.


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